How Can Office Owners Make Their Workspace More Comfortable?

As an office owner, it is your job to prioritize the safety and comfortability of everyone that’s working for you, considering that they continuously work inside your premises for over 8 hours on a daily basis.

A lot of office rentals Calgary does not prioritize offices in becoming comfortable because they think their employees “don’t deserve it” or it is out of their “budget”. But the thing is, if your employees are not comfortable working inside your office, the chances are high that the productivity rate will be really low and the stress levels will be high. This is why as an office owner you should handle comfortability and take it seriously.

But the question remains, what can you do as an office owner to make your office more comfortable?

10 things office owners can do to make their workspace more comfortable

1. Have a break room

Break rooms are a must in office space for Lease Calgary, especially if your employees work for you for over 8 hours a day. As an office owner, you should allow your employees to use the break room when they have some extra time or when you feel like there’s a lot of pressure. Breaks in a break room that has a TV or magazines along with newspapers can help your employees to freshen up their minds.

2. Comfortable sofa or seats in break room

Inside that break room, you need to have a comfortable sofa, I mean, would you like to be in an office break room that has a pretty bad sofa? No, right?

As an office owner, it should be your priority to have a comfortable sofa or seats inside your break room, where you and your employees can chill out during lunch or break times. This can allow you to know your employees better and can also help you promote teamwork.

3. Office pet

According to research that was carried out by the Virginia Commonwealth University, people experience less stress when there is a dog around them. In the study that they conducted, researchers took saliva samples from factory employees and looked at how much stress hormone “cortisol” was in it. The results were amazing. They showed that only employees who were around a dog had low cortisol levels by the end of the day!

4. Coffee machine

Well, if you have an office you might as well throw in that coffee machine in the kitchen, considering that everyone loves coffee and it helps people become more productive. Remember, a lot of employees drink coffee, not everyone but most of them, and as an office owner, you must have a coffee machine for their beverage needs. Not only their needs, but coffee has caffeine, which can help people become more active when they become sleepy and tired. 

5. Hand out headphones

Some employees love listening to music when they are working, but the thing is, not everyone has headphones and it’s not good to blast music on your office premises. This is why as an office owner, try to invest some of your extra money in decent headphones so your employees can listen to the music of their choice without disturbing anyone else. Also, it will help them loosen up if they feel stressed!

6. Eye breaks

Not only snack breaks or any other breaks that you have in your office, but you also want to look into eye breaks. If your employees are constantly looking at computers throughout the day, it is your job as a business owner to take care of their help. After lunch, at around 3pm every day, you want to give your employees a 15-minute break and allow them to rest their eyes.

Here are some Eyestrain signs and symptoms:

Sore eyes

Tired eyes

Burning eyes

Itching eyes

Watery eyes

Dry eyes

Blurred vision

Double vision

Headache

Sore neck

Shoulder pain

Increased sensitivity to light

Difficulty concentrating

7. Good temperature

It is your job as an office owner to make sure that your offices have a pretty decent temperature. During summers you need to have a cold office and during the winter season, you need to have an office temperature that would allow your employees to wear normal clothes and not feel cold. This one also depends on where you are operating from.

 

8. Allow them to go outside

Another thing that you want to try is allowing your employees to take breaks and roam around outside. Breaks outside of your office are good because it allows them to get out of the 4 walls of your office space. Not only that, but they get to breathe fresh air, which can help them feel better and more relaxed before going back to work. Try to do this daily and surely, you will notice a big difference.

9. Flexible timings

A lot of people do not agree with us on this, but if you want to make your office more comfortable, you want to allow your employees to come in late and work extra hours if they have some important things to deal with. Yes, we get it that some people might think that you have a favorite in your office, but that’s not really the thing. If you want to make your employees comfortable, you want to act as you care for them, which you can do by allowing them to come in late during emergencies and cover-up for the time that they have missed by working overtime.

10. Ask your employees

The last one is to ask the employees themselves. We know it’s not ideal or possible to buy everything your employees want, but at least you can try, right? As an office owner, you want to prioritize buying comfortable chairs, a decent desk, headphones, and even screens that emit less light so you can keep your employees safe and healthy. Doing this also allows the employees to feel like they are well-cared off in your office space!

11. Neck rests

Working on computers for over 10 hours a day is not easy, especially if you already have a bad posture. Your neck will end up having a bad form, which can cause shoulder, neck, and headaches on a daily basis. As an office owner, you can help your employees avoid this by simply buying neck rests, the comfortable ones. Give one to each employee and tell them to keep it for work.

12. Have enough lights

Without proper lighting in your office, your employees will easily experience eye strain. In order to make sure that your employees remain completely healthy and their eyes do not get damaged as they are working for you, you want to make sure that your office has proper lighting. Also, try to bring in natural light from the windows, it's good for the eyes too!

13. Try to listen to your employees

Another thing that you need to do is make sure that you are listening to your employees. As an office owner, it is your duty to understand and solve the issues that are present in your office. Trying to resolve them will help you out a lot in making your office more comfortable. This is important because not everything can be bought, sometimes peace of mind can bring more comfort to your office!

14. Allow everyone to customize their personal space

As an office owner, you need to allow everyone to customize their personal space in your office. Allowing your employees to customize their space will help them make themselves comfortable as they work. If they want to have some toys, some pictures, or memorabilia in their space, allow them to do it. It’s their desk and they should be comfortable sitting there!

 

15. Good smell

The last place I want to spend 10 hours on a daily place would be somewhere that has a bad smell. No one wants to work in an office that has a bad smell, so instead of allowing your office to have a normal odor, try to add some air fragrances. We advise offices to invest some money into automatic air-fresheners, which automatically sprays after 30 minutes. This will help you keep your office smell good!